


Exploding Plans

by AThousandWishes



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood: Lost Days, Under the Red Hood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 12:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AThousandWishes/pseuds/AThousandWishes
Summary: What if Batman caught Jason placing the bomb under the Batmobile?Why is it always the car with Jason?AU where Jason and Batman have a chance to reconnect only weeks after Jason's dip in the Lazarus Pit.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd
Comments: 13
Kudos: 182





	Exploding Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Quickly written Father/Son piece... Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Exploding Plans 

Jason had planned it all out so perfectly. He had set up the exchange of illegal weapons—Penguin was all too eager to buy them. Batman was all too eager to intercept such high-powered guns before any could make it out on the streets. All Jason had to do was make sure the sellers were late...late enough for his plan to work. 

It had been only five weeks ago that Jason had come out of the Lazarus Pit, dunked in it by Talia. She had hastily sent him away with a bag of cash, clothes, documents, and a Gotham newspaper. Her parting words were “Do not seek him out. You remain unavenged.” He had not understood. Not until he was safely tucked away in a small hotel in Paris, where he read the newspaper article on the front page... _Batman Returns Joker to Police Custody_. He looked at the date at the top of the page. Jason suddenly felt sick. He was missing two years of his life...where had those two years... 

Memories flooded his mind. His mother, Ethiopia, Joker, the crowbar, the locked door, the bomb, waking in the dark, pain, no air, yelling for Bruce, digging through dirt, breaking out into the rain, wandering among tombstones, car lights, a hospital room, confusion, lost and surviving in the streets of Gotham, always searching for someone...but who? And finally, the League of Assassins and Talia and the Pit. 

Where was Bruce? Why had he not been there? Why had he not done something...anything...why had Jason’s death been in vain? 

He didn’t understand. He couldn’t comprehend. He looked in the mirror. Two years? He was 17 now. But he hardly looked a day older than his 15 years when he died. Where could he go? What could he do? Then something took hold of Jason...he didn’t know what it was or where it came from. He only knew in that moment a rage, angry and violent surged up from deep within. His mind clouded over with a green haze. He screamed, a primal and wild sound. His fist flew into the mirror, shattering it into a thousand sharp pieces and cutting his hand in the process. He grabbed a lamp and smashed it against the wall. Next was a chair. The phone was ripped from its cord and followed. 

Faintly, he heard a knock at the door. Someone asking if everything was alright. Jason slammed the flat screen tv to the ground. He reached for the waste basket and flung it against a framed picture on the wall just as the door opened. A man walked in, talking, demanding Jason to stop, but whatever green fury that was inside of him exploded into a vicious rampage of kicks and punches. Another man followed the first one into the hotel room. Jason’s body was a whirlwind of fulminating wrath, as he pounded into the flesh of the intruders. 

Minutes later, the madness dissipated. Jason gazed, shell-shocked, around the demolished hotel room. His eyes fell on the broken bodies of the two men on the floor. They looked dead or close enough to it. He didn’t mean to...he had not consciously meant to hurt anyone... 

He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself and began to sob. 

Later that night, as he walked the streets of Paris, the green fog swirled through his thoughts, bringing back it’s terrible mania. It was then that Jason began to formulate his plan. He would go back to Gotham and he would kill Batman. He would kill the Joker. Then he would be able to start his new life as a true defender of the people of Gotham. He would be the hero that Batman could never be because he would be willing to stop the criminals permanently. 

And that’s what Jason was doing now. He was ready to complete his first step of his plans. He was going to kill Batman by blowing up the Batmobile. Jason stood on a rooftop, looking down at the exact spot Bruce Wayne lost his parents, the exact spot Jason had first met the Batman...the exact same spot that Batman always parked the Batmobile when he was patrolling or working out of Crime Alley. 

Jason figured he had at most five hours. He was hoping to plant the bomb under the Batmobile within three hours. It would be dangerous. It would be time consuming. The safeguards Batman had placed on the car were not going to be easy to get around. Jason was dressed in a specialized wet suit used by Navy Seals. It was invisible to thermal sensors and had reflective fibers that could scramble video. In order to evade the air current sensors, Jason would have to go at a sloth’s pace. He would need to go no faster than five seconds per inch. 

So, Jason got busy slowly lowering himself down to the alley and the car below. 

*** 

Batman was patiently waiting. He had been waiting for almost three hours now. The drop was supposed to have taken place two hours ago. Batman had shown up an hour early to set up in what would be the best surveillance spot. He sighed as no sign of activity was in sight. Perhaps he had gotten the date wrong. Maybe the sellers had upped the price and Penguin was refusing to pay. It was possible that Penguin was trying to finalize some other last-minute arrangement. Or there could even be an interference from a new competitive bid placed on the table. 

Biding his time was not a problem for the Dark Knight. Batman had plenty of patience when playing out a waiting game. However, it was the date chosen for this deal to go down that was the issue for him. The pause in activity left Batman with a lot of time alone with his thoughts. It was not a good thing when paired with the day April 27th...It was so hard to believe that Jason had been gone for two years now. Batman had planned on visiting the graveyard. He had wanted to pay his respects and be able to spend a little time with his son...to remember the amazing teenager that he had been blessed to call his own for three short years. 

Batman sighed softly. His thoughts were turning dark. He needed to focus. But no matter what, he couldn’t keep from thinking about Jason. Soon, his mind wandered to other domestic issues. Earlier in the day, Bruce had found Alfred in Jason’s room. The older man had been sitting on the bed with one of Jason’s notebooks in his hands, crying softly as he gazed out of the window, staring at nothing in particular. 

Dick had stopped by the Manor. Things had been better between them for the past year. They were slowly reconnecting all thanks to Timothy Drake. The boy had been a God-send. If it had not been for Tim, Bruce would most likely be dead. But this youngster had pushed his way into Batman’s mission and Bruce’s heart despite the man’s best efforts to keep his distance. Over the past year, Tim had worked hard, training to become Robin and in the process had been bringing Bruce and Dick back together. 

With his thoughts scattered and the seemingly blown deal, Batman decided to call it an early night. He could swing by the cemetery on the way home. Talk to Jason. Tell him about everything that had happened since his last visit back on August 16th. Batman closed his eyes. Jason would have been 17 years old. He would have been driving for a year. Batman would have even let him drive the Batmobile on occasion. He would be close to graduating high school, preparing for college. 

Batman quietly moved away from the warehouse. He started his trip back over six blocks of rooftops, to the one alley way in all of Gotham City that had changed his life...not once, but twice. 

As Batman leaped down from the last building and landed silently on the fire escape located right above the Batmobile, his eyes widened at the sight before him. There was someone halfway under his car, with only hips and legs visible. It appeared to be a teenage boy from the size and shape of the lower half of the body. How did this young person get this close to the vehicle without setting off any alarms? And was he wearing a wet suit? What was going on? 

Batman swooped in and landed next to the interloper’s feet. The teenager instantly stilled and then cursed softly. 

“That’s my car,” Batman stated, almost lost in the memory of confronting another kid in this same alley, messing with a previous version of the Batmobile. Why was it always this alley? Why was it the car again...on this particular date? 

“This is Crime Alley. What did you expect?” a muffled voice growled from under the vehicle. 

“What are you doing under there?” Batman asked, truly curious. 

The boy carefully scooted out and glared up at Batman. The wet suit covered the majority of the teenager's face, only his eyes were in view. But the eyes made the Dark Knight almost gasp and take a step back...almost. He blinked as he scrutinized the shape, the narrowed glint that was so familiar to him. The alley was dark. It was hard to actually distinguish the color. But he knew those eyes...he knew that expression... 

The teenager held out a black box. “I’ve got a bomb. I will detonate it, if you don’t back off.” 

Batman tilted his head slightly to the side as he listened to the voice. Was he hallucinating? Was his subconsciousness playing tricks on him because of the date and this location? “Why? Why do you have a bomb?” 

“Why do you think, ya big boob?” The boy kicked out suddenly. 

Batman felt the hard kick to his gut, both physically and emotionally. Did he hear the kid right? Had he really just said that? It couldn’t possibly... 

The boy was running out of the alley. Batman recovered quickly and pursued. 

*** 

Jason couldn’t believe his incredibly terrible luck! Seriously, what could have gone so utterly wrong? Had the sellers shown up early? Had something else happened that scared Penguin off? Was Batman called away on something more urgent? He should have had another hour or more to complete his mission! 

With Batman on his heels, Jason let instinct take over. His feet carried him through the alley ways and streets of his old neighborhood. He weaved in and out, navigating the narrow spaces between buildings like a rat in a maze. He darted into an opening of a boarded up condemned building and took the stairs up to the third floor. He dashed into a room and hid in the shadows. He worked hard to calm his breathing and used his ears to listen for the slightest of sounds. 

*** 

Batman watched in continued shock as the teenager slipped into the condemned building. Five years ago, he had followed another boy...although it was a much younger boy...into this same building. What was happening? Who was this teenager? The date, the car, the eyes, the expression, the attitude, the words, the location and now this building...It couldn’t be Jason...it couldn’t... 

Silently, Batman grappled up to the window he knew would lead him into a certain room... 

*** 

Jason was so intent on listening for Batman coming up the stairs and down the hallway, that he failed to notice the shadow that suddenly burst through the window until it was too late. 

Batman was on him in two fast steps, pinning him against the wall. 

For several quiet seconds, Batman stared him down, white lenses narrowed, studying what little of his face that was available. 

“Jason?” 

The tone of the man’s voice was somewhere between disbelief, hope and grief. Despite the anger he felt and the green haze that filled his mind, Jason waivered in his determination to bring about the downfall of Batman. A small part of him kept whispering, _this is your dad...he can help...he can fix this...just let him in_. 

“Jason died,” the young man growled out instead. “You didn’t save him. You didn’t avenge him.” 

Batman shook his head. Quietly, he answered back, voice cracking slightly, “I didn’t save him. I should’ve been there. I was too late. Heaven help me! I was too late...” 

A few thunderous heartbeats pounded in Jason’s chest before he ground out, “What about the Joker? Why is the Joker still alive? If he took your son from you...beat him with a crowbar and blew him up...why on God’s green earth is that clown still alive? Why haven’t you rid this world of his evil?” 

“I tried.” Batman’s grip on Jason loosened. “I wanted to...I planned to...” 

“Why didn’t you?” Jason questioned, pushing against the bat emblem on the other man’s chest. 

“Superman stopped me. He kept me from killing him. A part of me is glad he did. Losing Jason hurt so bad...I lost someone so precious, that I started to become a monster myself. If I would’ve killed Joker, I would’ve turned into something much darker.” Batman’s hands dropped completely, to hang loosely at his sides. “There are days that I still want to kill Joker...but I try to honor Jason by living my life as the kind of person my son loved and respected...to live as his dad who loves Jason enough not to become the kind of rogue he sacrificed his life fighting against. I don’t want to dishonor his memory.” 

Jason’s eyes started to tear up at Batman’s confession. He huffed out, “Talia said that...” 

“Talia?” Batman questioned sharply. “Did she...? Jason? Is it...can it really be...?” 

With a shaky hand, Jason reached up and pulled the wet suit’s head covering down, away from his face. 

Batman sucked in his breath. “Oh my...dear Lord, let this not be a dream!” The man reached out and grasped Jason to him, crushing his son to his chest. 

“But I have a bomb...” Jason mumbled, against the armored plate he found himself squished against. 

Batman just let out a startled chuckle. “You got something against my car? First the tires and now a bomb,” he snarked, voice wet with tears. “We can blow it up. I don’t care! I’d let you blow up a thousand Batmobiles!” 

Jason coughed out his own hysterical snicker. “The plan was to blow it up with you in it,” he confessed, tone dark. 

Batman squeezed Jason tighter. “Plans can change.” Then he added brokenly, “I had lost you...lost you forever...you were dead...but now...my son’s alive...I love you, son...I love you so much!” 

A sob tore itself out of Jason and he found himself lifting his arms to hug his dad. “I’m so confused, Dad. I can’t think straight. I’m so angry and sad and I hate you, but I love you, too! I don’t know what I want...where to go or what to do. And I want the Joker to die, a slow and painful death for what he did to me, even though I’m so scared of ever trying to confront him. I’m too messed up to go home, but I’m so homesick.” 

As Jason broke down into gasping cries, Batman pulled his cowl back and cupped his son’s face, gently wiping his tears away with gloved thumbs. “That’s all understandable, son. We can work on it. We can deal with it. I’m just so happy to have you here...alive! Two years...you were gone for two years to the day. I would do anything for you...to keep you here with me. Just ask it, Jaylad! There’s nothing we can’t work out!” 

Several minutes passed, with father and son holding onto one another. Then Jason pulled back slightly and quirked an eyebrow as his lip curled up on one side. “If I don’t blow up the car, do you think I can catch a ride home?” 

Bruce smiled his first true, genuine smile in two years...and so did Jason. 

The End


End file.
